What's the meaning of this, I wondered. What could be inside this envelope? Should I open it and find out?
What if it contains important information about my recent past? Or my future? The consequences of that could be disastrous. Is that a risk I'd be willing to take? What if my life depended on it?
No! I refuse to accept the responsibility!
Minutes later, I changed my mind and tore open the envelope. I figured, What the hell?
Inside was a yellowed, well-worn, handwritten letter. Clearly, many years had passed since it was composed by its author. It was written in a Hollywood cafe, if the letterhead is any indication. Who would write me a letter from a Hollywood cafe? I had no guesses.
Rather than paraphrase the letter for you, I'll type out its contents in full:
Dear Shane,
For five years leading up to the events of my film "Back to the Future Part II," you may potentially be misled by countless doctored photos of the DeLorean's time circuit, displaying an inaccurate date when my character, Marty McFly, arrived in the future.
Please take whatever precautions are necessary to protect yourself from this terrible disaster.
Your friend,
Michael
Great Scott, he was right! And right again! And right once more! In fact, the hoax was revived just a few weeks ago. This is heavy.
So here I am to echo Michael's warning. Here's what you need to know to protect yourself from this terrible disaster. In Back to the Future Part II, Marty, who lives in the year 1985, time-travels 30 years into the future: October 21, 2015, to be precise. It's not an easy date to remember, I know. Just watch this clip every so often to remind yourself:
Even better, bookmark this real-time countdown to October 21, 2015.
Since I've addressed one falsehood about Back to the Future Part II, allow me to set the record straight on a few others:
-- Back to the Future Part II did not predict a real-life sweep by the Chicago Cubs of a team based in Miami in the World Series. That possibility does not exist because Chicago and Miami -- a city that did not have a franchise at the time of the movie's release -- both play in the National League. However, the film did accurately predict that Miami would trade its best players after the 1997, 2005, 2007, and 2012 seasons.
-- There is no such thing as a hoverboard. It has not been invented yet. Stop complaining about it. On the bright side, we have had the ice cream of the future for many years. I have tasted it at my local amusement park. It is delicious.
-- You may have noticed that in Back to the Future Part II, no one used the Internet in the year 2015. (Marty and Doc Brown got their news from something called a "newspaper.") The DeLorean, which could travel through time and, by this point in the trilogy, could also fly, wasn't even equipped with WiFi. That is because there will be no Internet in the year 2015. The movie got that part right. Sorry, folks, but this is what happens when you spread false memes about the Back to the Future films.
(For more on Back to the Future, click here.)
